This invention relates generally to musical instruments. More particularly, it relates to a stringed musical instrument, or assembly, having a plurality of stringed slide guitar elements each of which has electronic pick-up and output to a programmable digital mixer to create unique futuristic sounds.
As is well known in the art, the modern day electric guitar produces sounds by electronic amplification of string vibrations. This instrument amounts to a steel-strung acoustic guitar with an electromagnetic pick-up which is, in turn, connected to an electronic amplification system. An electric cord connects the guitar to an amplifier and a speaker. Controls on the guitar regulate the sound which is produced by the string vibrations. The strings are fastened or anchored to a bridge which is situated atop the guitar face. The strings extend along a fingerboard and are tied to rotatable tuning keys located at the head of the guitar. Narrow metal strips, called frets, lie on the fingerboard and are situated generally perpendicularly below the strings. Each such fret marks the position of a specific tone. The musician presses the strings behind the frets with the fingers of one hand while strumming or plucking the strings with the other hand. The string vibrates and those vibrations are electromagnetically registered on the pick up.
Now, imagine a musician playing on what might look at first glance to be a keyboard, except that the keyboard has forty or so strings situated on it instead of keys. Also imagine that the sounds being generated by the strings of such a novel instrument are electronically processed and enhanced. The virtually limitless array of vibrations and sounds generated by this single instrument are not imagination, but rather the subject of this invention.
The present invention sprang to life by borrowing from the concept familiar to a ten-stringed instrument called the xe2x80x9cChapman Stick.xe2x80x9d The Chapman Stick is a long and cumbersome instrument which runs the upper length of a musician""s body. Because of its long size, the musician desirous of playing the Chapman Stick must continually stand in order to play it. This inventor, while experimenting with new sounds, took one such Chapman Stick and laid it out across his lap, very much as one would as if he were playing a keyboard. At the same time, this inventor had an eight-string slide guitar set up. After playing an open low bass note on the Chapman Stick, this inventor accidentally bump-strummed the slide guitar while reaching over to move a fader, or sliding control knob. The resulting sound which emanated was like no other sound this inventor has ever heard before it. It was unique and provided the impetus to explore the textures available by playing these two instruments at the same time. By expanding this combination to include the tonal qualities of other string elements added to this most basic combination, this inventor found that truly new and unique sounds could be generated by a single instrument having composite string elements.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to create a novel string instrument or assembly which allows a number of different string arrays to be played by one musician at one time for generating unique sounds. It is another object to create such an array which can be mounted onto a single foundation for ease of use by the musician. It is yet another object to provide means for electrical pick-up of the string vibrations generated by the instrument such that the vibrations can be outputted to a programmable digital surround mixer for further sound processing and enhancement. It is yet another object of the present invention to electronically blend the sounds generated by the different string arrays used within the instrument. It is still another object of the present invention to make one or more of the stringed elements of the device removably attachable and detachable from the foundation.
The present invention has obtained these objects. It comprises an instrument or assembly which utilizes a foundation, or platform, which foundation or platform houses a combination of separate and different string elements. The first string element uses the concept familiar to the aforementioned Chapman Stick, a ten-string fret board. The foundation also includes other string elements, including a plurality of altered eight-string slide guitars and at least one modified six-string guitar all of which are similarly mounted to the foundation or platform. Various controllers are used to output the string vibrations of these various stringed elements to a programmable digital surround mixer which allows for sound processing, enhancement and blending of the sounds generated by the different string arrays used within the instrument. The foregoing and other features of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description which follows.